BELGIUM: KVV HO Molenbeersel

Truyenstraat, Molenbeersel (KVV Hoger-Op Molenbeersel)

Belgium, province: Limburg

8 I 2023 / KVV HO Molenbeersel - Sporting Ellikom 2-2 / Limburg, Provincial League 4C (= BE level 9)

Timeline

• 1925 / A first football team is formed in Molenbeersel, a village in the far north of Belgian Limburg, on the Dutch-Belgian border. Molen-Beerselse Voetbalvereeniging (MBVV) does not seek affiliation with the Belgian Football Association, though, contenting itself with playing friendly matches against other recreational teams from nearby villages in Belgium as well as the Netherlands. MBVV's playing field is situated at Foshei, some distance away from the village centre.
• 1928 / MBVV is wound up, ceasing all activities. The pitch at Foshei remains in use in the following years, as recreational matches between teams from various parts of Molenbeersel are organised now and again.
• 1932 / A second recreational football club is founded in Molenbeersel, given the name Vlug en Vrij Molenbeersel. Home matches are alternately played at Fosheide or at a second pitch at Vinderweide. Like its predecessor, MBVV, Vlug & Vrij does not seek affiliation with any league.
• 1938 / The decision is taken to seek affilation with Belgium's official FA. As Vlug en Vrij Molenbeersel is wound up, a new club, Voetbalvereeniging (VV) Hooger-Op (HO) Molenbeersel sees the daylight in November 1938.
• 1939 / Belgium's FA accepts VV HO Molenbeersel as a new member club, which is included in the official membership list under matricule 2762. The orthography of the club name was later modernised to become Voetbalvereniging Hoger-Op Molenbeersel. As neither of the two previous pitches of MBVV and Vlug & Vrij Molenbeersel meet FA standards, a new pitch is laid out near the crossroads of Venderhof and Oude Kerkstraat. This ground, the so-called Terrein Achter Zjeer or Terrein aan de Köster, is to remain the club's home for the next 24 years, although the pitch is slightly moved twice in the 1950s. HO Molenbeersel's first chairman is François Verlaek, the local cobbler.
• 1946 / In a reorganisation of Limburg's league pyramid, which sees the abolition of the regional league system below the provincial divisions in which the club had spent its first seasons, VV HO Molenbeersel is placed in Provincial League 3. 
• 1963 / VV HO Molenbeersel moves to a newly laid-out ground, Terrein aan Bouwens, situated at modern-day Ververstraat.
• 1968 / HOM's youth player Willy Craeghs signs a contract with K Waterschei SV Thor. Two years later, fellow youth prodigies Jan Weerens and Frits Truyens follow the same path.
• 1972 / A first permanent clubhouse is inaugurated at Terrein aan Bouwens.
• 1973 / HO Molenbeersel's top goalscorer Mathieu Denier is signed by KFC Winterslag - followed by his brother Pierre one year later. Both go on to have remarkable careers as professional league players, Mathieu at Winterslag, R Standard de Liège, and Cercle Brugge KSV; and Pierre at Winterslag and KRC Genk. 
• 1974 / Following a nail-biting title race with Flandria Dorne, which sees both clubs finish with an equal number of points, a test match is played in Maaseik, attended by no fewer than 2,500 spectators. HO Molenbeersel takes a 2-0 lead, but two late Dorne goals see the match go to penalties. As the shoot-outs are won by Dorne, HOM misses out on promotion to Provincial League 2 yet again.
• 1978 / After a staggering 32 consecutive years in Provincial League 3, VV HO Molenbeersel manages a first success, winning promotion to Provincial League 2 for the first time after finishing second in Provincial League 3B and winning the subsequent promotion play-off ties against Sparta Kuringen. Sadly, the coach who managed this memorable result, Dutchman Mathieu Tielens, is constrained to resign due to health issues the following season.
• 1986 / VV HO Molenbeersel registers its best result in club history, finishing third in P2B - replicating that exact result two seasons later. 
• 1989 / Upon the club's 50th anniversary, the royal epithet is obtained; as a result, the club name is adapted to become Koninklijke Voetbalvereniging (KVV) Hoger-Op (HO) Molenbeersel.
• 1990 / Following 12 consecutive seasons in Provincial League 2, KVV HO Molenbeersel is relegated to P3 after finishing second-last in P2B.
• 1992 / Suffering a second relegation in three seasons, KVV HO Molenbeersel finds itself in Limburg's Provincial League 4 for the first time in club history. That same summer, the club moves away from its ground at Ververstraat, settling at the newly built premises at Truyenstraat.
• 1995 / Finishing second in Provincial League 4A, the club finds its way back to Provincial League 3 after a three-year absence by winning the promotion play-offs.
• 1996 / Former professional league player, 38-year-old Dutch striker Piet den Boer - formerly playing his football at CVV, Xerxes, SBV Excelsior, KV Mechelen, FC Girondins de Bordeaux, SM Caen, and KFC Tielen - is signed by KVV HO Molenbeersel, although his involvement with the club remains constricted to one solitary match. In October 1996, he is in the club's line-up for the derby game against KFC Kinrooi - without too much success, though, as the encounter is lost and Den Boer fails to score a goal (0-1).
• 2001 / After a season which sees HO Molenbeersel finishing fourth in P3A, the club wins promotion to P2 via the play-offs. The new adventure at the second-highest level of Limburg's Provincial League pyramid lasts for one season only, though, with relegation following immediately in 2002.
• 2008 / A last place in Provincial League 3B results in HO Molenbeersel being relegated to Provincial League 4. 
• 2009 / Dutchman Pascal Boer, former professional league player at VVV and Helmond Sport, takes over as Molenbeersel's player-manager, remaining at the helm for the following two seasons.
• 2018 / Having come close to winning promotion the previous season, in which a second place in the final ranking was obtained, KVV HO Molenbeersel accedes to P3 by winning the promotion play-offs after finishing fourth in P4C. 
• 2019 / Managing no more than a 15th place in P3B, HO Molenbeersel is relegated back to the bottom division of Limburg's Provincial League pyramid.
• 2023 / Announcing the end of the club in January 2023, HO Molenbeersel sees a reinforcements of its board in the following months, thus ensuring its continued existence.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author